Homex Plunges Most in Three Years on Earnings: Mexico City Mover

Shares fell 11.9 percent to 38.67 pesos at 3 p.m. Mexico
City time, the biggest decline since November 2008. The
benchmark IPC index of 35 Mexican stocks rose 0.6 percent.

Sales last year climbed 10.5 percent to 21.7 billion pesos
($1.7 billion), the Culiacan, Mexico-based company said in a
statement yesterday. It had projected sales growth of 12 percent
to 14 percent. Fourth-quarter net income fell 39 percent to
253.7 million pesos.

Investors are concerned that Homex fell short of its
estimate and “the sector in general isn’t meeting
projections,” said Enrique Mendoza, an analyst with Intercam
Casa de Bolsa SA in Mexico City. “There’s disenchantment and
there’s fear.”

The Habita index of Mexican homebuilders fell 6.6 percent.

The loss today was “exaggerated,” because the report also
contained positive data, including signs of improvement in
working capital, Mendoza said.

The so-called working capital cycle, or the speed at which
a company sees return on initial investments, was shortened to
645 days in the period compared with 652 days in the fourth
quarter of 2010, Homex said in the statement.